WWE Raw Review - 05/09/11 - Triple H Fires Kevin Nash

The Big News: Triple H fired Kevin Nash for lying to him and revealed to CM Punk that their bout at Night of Champions would be contested under No DQ rules. CM Punk came out to start the show and sat down in the middle of the ring for a promo. He said that he was different and that that his difference made him a target because his outspoken views piss off a lot of people. He then mentioned that he would be facing Truth later on in the show but declared that he really wanted to get his hands on Kevin Nash. Because Nash he explained is not different but rather the embodiment of the status quo with his old music and even older hair. Punk then challenged Nash to come out and face him like a man. Nash arrived with a mic in hand. He said that he doesn't listen to Punk or anybody else for that matter but rather does whatever he wants whenever he wants to do it. He explained that Hunter had done Punk a favour by taking Nash out of the match because otherwise he would have destroyed him. Punk did some more shtick about Nash no longer being relevant before Triple H interrupted. Hunter came out and told Nash that he had watched some security footage from the night the text was sent and seen that Nash had entered his office (for some reason unlocked) and sent the message himself from Hunter's phone. The pay-off to this month long mystery received a minute pop from the largely uninterested crowd. Nash admitted to sending the text because apparently he was trying to make wwe fun again. Hunter told his friend that he may not like Punk but at least he respects the fact that he always tell the truth unlike Nash who has been lying to him week in week out. Nash started to taunt Hunter by pushing him and asking him what he was going to do about it. Hunter responded with a punch before telling Nash that he was fired. Instead of using this opportunity to kick Nash in the face which actually would have effectively stirred the crowd, Punk instead proceeded to point and laugh in his face as if he was a teenager witnessing a drunk old man fall on his ass. This was a long, convoluted and contrived opening segment which immediately dampened the momentum following on from the tense physical confrontation that the three men had engaged in on Smackdown. Backstage Nash was shown departing in a limousine with John Laurenitis. Tag Team Match: Air Boom (Tag Champs) defeated Jinder Mahal and Great Khali via pinfall Usual formula with Bourne taking the early beat down from Jinder Mahal who actually looked pretty good in his offence connecting with a crisp smooth underhook supplex and several rope assisted knee drops. Khali then tagged in and ruined the flow of the match however with some painfully bad stomps. Luckily he wasn't in long though as Mahal re-entered the ropes and proceeded to inflict further damage on Bourne. Bourne then made the hot tag to Kingston who hit Mahal with a springboard crossbody and then took out Khali with a kick to the outside after Khali had accidentally chopped Mahal to the mat. Kofi then got the tag to Bourne who landed the shooting star press on Mahal for the win. ** Backstage Alberto Del Rio was shown arriving in a new car with his personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez. No 1 contender's Divas Title match: Beth Phoenix defeated Eve via pinfall Kelly Kelly and Natalya joined the commentary team and indulged in a slagging match which escalated throughout the bout. Two minute match was really quite good and a massive improvement on the disaster match that they before Summerslam. Beth took down Eve with shoulderblocks before both girls traded pinfall pinfall attempts. Eve then got on top with some forearms before being thrown rather viciously into the ringposts. Beth then dropped outside to stretch her opponents arm against the post before climbing back in and attempting a pinfall. Eve managed to fight back again with a bicycle kick and an awesome somersault senton before missing a jump kick and falling prone to the Glam Slam. ** Post-match Kelly Kelly walked over to tend to Eve only to be attacked from behind by Natalya who went inside to congratulate her friend. The Divas of Doom then looked over menacingly at their fallen victims. Graphic celebrating The Rock passing the one million followers mark on Twitter. Alberto Del Rio was backstage with Christian and told him that he was surprised to see that he was not wearing the world heavyweight championship before trying to lay the blame on John Cena. Christian could see through his charade and told Del Rio that if he was going to attack Cena it would be on his own terms and not someone elses. Del Rio managed to get into his head however when he reminded Christian that John Cena had him with the Attitude Adjustment the day before his cage match with Randy Orton. Del Rio also gave these little Cena infused pep talks to both Wade Barrett and Dolph Ziggler later on in the show. They aired a trailer for the new WWE movie Inside Out starring Triple H. R-Truth was shown walking backstage towards the ring and being joined by The Miz. Two weeks ago I said that Truth and Miz got the perfect balance between intensity and humour in their heated tirade against the company conspiracy. This week however they cut a promo with material that had midcard written all over it. It mostly revolved around bad jokes deigned to make Truth look stupid with Miz scripted to find his stupidity affectionate. There was some promising news however as Miz announced that they would be challenging Air Boom for the tag titles at Night of Champions. Maybe this could be the first step towards revitalising a completely barren division. Match: CM Punk defeated R-Truth via pinfall The two competitors traded headlock takedowns to start before Truth got on top with a shoulderbock and proceeded to pull off a cocky dance. Punk took the smile off his face with a big dropkick however and continued to pick up the pace of the match with a suicide dive to the outside. Back inside Truth wore down Punk with a chinlock and then threw him outside so that Miz could capitalise with the numbers game behind the refs back. Truth worked over his opponent's leg but lost his momentum when Punk crotched him on the top rope and connected with a supperplex. Punk then continued on the offence with some stiff kicks followed by a high running knee, a bulldog and a springboard clothesline. He then set Truth up in position for the GTS only for Truth to counter with a gourbuster for the near fall. Miz was then barred from ringside for getting involved again in the match as Punk took down Truth with a very smooth GTS for the pinfall. ** This seems like a harsh rating for what was actually a very well worked match but I found much like Punk's encounter with the Miz last week that I was just never really emotionally involved with the action. Punk has always been a standout in ring star as a heel but in his new role I'm struggling to adjust to him as a face in peril and until that transition starts to take form his regular tv matches are going to do little to inspire me. Post-match angle was very odd. Hunter came out to address Punk inside the middle of the ring but before he had chance to speak Punk wanted to tell him that he still wasn't buying the fact that Hunter and Nash were at odds despite the punch and firing from earlier. Hunter responded by telling Punk that their match at Night of Champions would be contested in a no dq environment because he doesn't just want to beat him but he wants to really hurt him too. Punk who not even a minute earlier had told his boss that he didn't trust him consequently responded positively to this match announcement despite it being the perfect set up for an interference. Punk then told Hunter that he wanted a new stipulation added that if Triple H loses at Night of Champions he would have to step down as COO of the company. Hunter readily agreed to these terms despite it also leaving him vulnerable to the countless number of people who don't want him in charge. Character motivation was well and truly thrown out of the window here. Recap from the previous week's confrontation between David Otunga and Jerry Lawler. With the former tag champs Otunga and McGillicutty already in the ring Lawler said that he had found himself a tag partner brimming with personality as they aired an awesome Zak Ryder video package which more than justified Lawler's compliment. Tag Match: Jerry €œThe King€ Lawler and Zak Ryder defeated Otunga and McGillicutty via pinfall I know they call The Undertaker the best pure striker in sports entertainment but Lawler for my money still throws the best, most authentic looking punches in the business. After nailing Otunga with some fine fists he then dropped a not so flattering fist drop from the middle rope before tagging in Ryder who finished him off with the Rough Ryder finisher. Pointless match unless they do actually plan to take the Ryder push to the next level. * Match: Randy Orton defeated Heath Slater via pinfall Orton took control quickly with some fists and stomps before Slater made a mini comeback with an enziguri followed up by a chinlock. His momentum didn't last long however as Orton pretended to throw him to the outside before draping him across the middle rope and connecting with the deadly DDT. He then hit the RKO for the win. Not sure what purpose this match was supposed to serve either as it would have been far more effective for Orton to have the night off in order to sell the beat-down he had suffered at the hands of Mark Henry on last week's Super Smackdown. * Backstage Zak Ryder was busy filming for his you tube show when he was distracted by the appearance of John Cena. He bragged to Cena about all his merchandise before placing some shades on Cena's head. Cena took them off and then had a comic dig at The Rock by asking what kind of idiot wears sunglasses indoors. He then told Ryder that he was just kidding before congratulating him and making his way to the middle of the ring. Inside the ring Cena took to the mic and wanted to know why Del Rio kept ducking him. Del Rio came out and said that he is leaving Cena alone because he wants to give him a fighting chance at Night of Champions by not running the risk of injuring him now. I always love that line from a heel. He then brought out the men who he had persuaded to take down Cena in backstage skits throughout the show. Sure enough Ziggler, Christian, Swagger and Wade Barrett came down the ramp and proceeded to beat on Cena before Sheamus, Morrison and Alex Riley came to the rescue. Teddy Long then interrupted and said that he had been given permission to book an eight man tag team elimination match as the main event of the show. 8 Man Tag Team Elimination Match: John Cena submitted Jack Swagger to emerge as the sole survivor for the babyface team More backwards booking with a ten minute elimination bout destined to make some of the superstars look out of their element. Unfortunately Morrison was the fall guy here taking the first pinfall after tapping out to Ziggler's sleeper hold just three minutes into the match. Ziggler was then on top of Riley before Swagger tagged himself in and made his opponent submit with the Ankle Lock. With two now against four Sheamus rallied hard against Barrett hitting him with a top rope shoulderblock and the brogue kick for the elimination pinfall. He then tussled with Christian who infuriated the Irishman by delivering a brutal slap from outside the ring ropes. This led to a mass chase through the crowd and up the ramp with both men being counted out and a feud no doubt being planted in the process. John Cena was then left in a 2 on 1 situation against Ziggler and Swagger. I was half expecting him to wipe the floor with two men after a minor beat-down but instead they let Ziggler and Swagger before playing well on the storyline friction as Ziggler tagged himself in by patting Swagger's back just like Swagger had done to him earlier. Ziggler was too caught up in giving Swagger a verbal lashing however and when he turned round found himself being hoisted up for the Attitude Adjustment and a successful pinfall. Swagger then quickly locked Cena in the Ankle Lock but this was then countered by Cena into the STF as Swagger tapped to become the final man eliminated. Finish and winner was predictable but the bout smoothly escalated one feud and ignited another so no real complaints there. ** ½ Post-match Del Rio tried to deliver another beat-down on Cena but he was sent packing with an Attitude Adjustment. Cena stood tall in the ring to end the show. Verdict: This was a poor show that did little to promote the two big upcoming PPV matches. The angle with Punk, Nash and Hunter has become needlessly long winded and the excessive back and forth talking is now becoming a real grind. This week however it was even worse as the sense of reality also seemed to fade. Nash not being a member of the roster didn't stop him from attacking Punk at Summerslam so Punk now feeling comfortable about a no dq match with Hunter just because Nash has been fired is beyond me especially when it was John Laurentisits who hired him in the first place. I'm sure there's another twist in the tale somewhere but I have now officially lost interest in the progression of this feud. The WWE are lucky however that Punk versus Hunter has never been done before on PPV so there is still at least some intrigue surrounding their match-up. Meanwhile John Cena gears up for his millionth PPV world title match against a champion who he thinks is an utter joke. Excuse me then for not being excited about the upcoming wwe title clash. My only hope is that Cena can put Del Rio over at Night of Champions and allow Del Rio to just maybe defend his belt against some fresh main event opposition. I'm not holding my breath though. The sad thing is that from an in ring perspective I'm sure that Night of Champions is going to be an excellent show but the wwe have become so terrified of building feuds and storylines patiently and so reliant on their big money makers that they have made the landscape of their company both needlessly uninspiring and repetitive. Superstar of the Night: No wrestling for the champ tonight but Alberto Del Rio was very effective in his cowardly role of trying to get other superstars to do his dirty work for him. Moment of the Night: A mad crowd chase involving Christian and Sheamus sets up a rivalry that could produce fireworks inside the squared circle.